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The United States principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Mark Bellamy, announced on Sunday his country's willingness to accelerate the peace process in the Great Lakes region.
"We have come here today to accelerate the peace process," he said.
Bellamy met the Democratic Republic of the Congo foreign minister, Leonard She Okitundu, in Kinshasa, with whom he discussed ongoing fighting between Banyamulenge soldiers and the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement in Minembwe, in the hauts plateaux region in South Kivu Province, eastern DRC.
"These confrontations underline the necessity to put an end to war in the country as soon as possible," the Bellamy said.
He announced plans to continue discussions on the matter with Congolese and Rwandan authorities. Kigali accuses Kinshasa and pro-government militias of supporting the Banyamulenge in Minembwe. Rwanda has long accused the DRC of sheltering other armed groups, such as the former Rwandan military and Hutu militias, largely responsible for that nation's 1994 genocide.
Kinshasa has denied the accusations and has called for an international commission of inquiry to investigate the status of armed groups in the region. On this proposal, Bellamy affirmed that a means of identifying and quantifying armed groups must be found.
Regarding the proposed establishment of a buffer zone between Congolese and Rwandan troops along the two nations' common border, he said that the two governments should examine the issue.
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